Rushing the Passer
Posted: October 9th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 135 Comments »The Eagles racked up 49 sacks last year. This year they have only gotten to the QB 6 times, putting them on pace for a paltry 24 sacks. So what is up with the pass rush?
There isn’t an easy answer, but we do have to look back at last year. The Eagles had an 8-sack game vs the Giants and a 9-sack game vs the Panthers. That means the team had 32 sacks in the other 14 games. When the Eagles faced QBs who held the ball, they got home. When they faced other QBs, the rush got pressure, but didn’t always deliver sacks.
As Bill Davis has explained many times, you also have to factor coverage into the equation. Last year the Eagles allowed opposing QBs a rating of 91.6. This year that is down at 84.4. The Eagles have 5 INTs so far, putting them on pace for 20. Last year they only picked off 12 passes. If QBs are willing to get the ball out quickly and/or take chances, you aren’t going to get as many sacks.
I think overall the rush has been better than most people see it. Davis wants to affect the QB. That means moving him off his spot, hitting him or making him change his motion/delivery so the pass is off-target. The Eagles have done those things.
Where I do agree the pass rush has come up short is in some known passing situations. The end of the Skins game was less than ideal. Part of that is Washington mixing so many runs on that drive, but Kirk Cousins mostly had time to throw when he did throw passes. There was one key 3rd/5 play where Vinny Curry was being held. If not for that. he’s all over Cousins (there is bound to be a West Virginia joke in that comment).
Brandon Graham has come under a lot of scrutiny. He only has 1 sack and 1 TFL so people are down on him. I can see that criticism. Graham hasn’t been a playmaker. I do think he’s been good overall. He’s covering better than ever. He’s playing the run well. Graham used to fire off the edge and attack the ball, That was fun to watch, but the Eagles defense calls for OLBs to set the edge nd contain the run. That means a LB can do his job perfectly, but might not actually make the play. Graham has been effective on stunts and loops. He executes those games well. It would be good to see Graham fire off the edge and be more disruptive on known passing situations. His goal was 32. He’s on pace for 4. Ouch.
Bill Davis builds gameplans around opponents. Where Buddy Ryan wanted to dictate to offenses, Davis tries to react to what they do. I’m not arguing that either one is right, just pointing out the difference. The Eagles have faced 2 QBs who get the ball out very quickly. Rather than blitz and focus on rushing the QB, Davis built his schemes more around coverage. Have rushers get their hands up. Have the back 7 or 8 fly to the ball and limit yards after the catch. Bull rush to collapse the pocket and affect the QB even if you can’t cleanly get to him.
There is no question that the Eagles need to rush the QB better. It would also help if they had some favorable circumstances.
- Get Taylor Hart and Cedric Thornton back. DL need to be rotated. Hart has good length and athleticism. He could be a help to the pass rush. Plus, those guys getting more DL reps would allow Vinny Curry to play some OLB and help spell Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham.
- Play with a lead. The Eagles had 4th quarter leads in a couple of losses, but spent most of the game coming from behind. Playing with a lead gives the players and coaches more freedom to do what they want and to try to dictate to the offense.
- Have the offense sustain some drives. It helps the defense when they aren’t running back to the field every four plays.
- Play some QBs that will hold the ball longer than 1.9 seconds.
While all of that is true, the bottom line is that pass rush needs to be better. Graham, Barwin, Curry and Fletcher Cox are outstanding talents that can get into the backfield and make plays. They’ve done some good things this year, but need to be better. Regular pressure on the QB has a huge impact on the game.
It sounds like the DL will be healthier this week, but facing Drew Brees isn’t the way you’re going to improve your sack numbers. He is as smart as any QB in the league and does a great job of getting the ball out when it needs to be gone. Brees has been sacked 9 times in 3 games, mostly due to a struggling OL. That sounds promising, but I wouldn’t count on getting to him much. I’m sure Bill Davis will plan to try and “affect” him. If the Eagles can actually get home and land some sacks, that’s even better.
_
What does it mean that people are consistently open so quickly. I thought we were a press man team
Press man can be tough when offenses use bunch sets, tight splits and crossing routes. Falcons were great with all 3.
Perfect example was Last night how Strong was left completely wide open to catch what will be the easiest TD of his career…
..
If our Press is effective in shutting down Cooks, good chance we see some bunched sets to try and get him a clean release..
COMMENTS
Things get testy when the Eagles lose. We’re human and we sometimes let emotions get the best of us. We need to remain civil in this forum. This is a place for smart fans to talk about the Eagles.
We can disagree.
We can argue.
We will not make things personal.
I try not to micro-manage the comments section and ban commenters because I tend to think most here are good people who just have some bad moments.
But if the 2015 season is going to be a long, frustrating one, I will do what I have to in order to keep this place fun for the majority of readers.
Please be civil to each other and help me to keep this a great spot for intelligent Eagles talk.
Thanks,
Tommy
Typical Tommy being pleasant and public minded. Shame on you!
His style should be respected more than any ban threat from a moderator
Thanks.
I’ll try to be civil. Intelligent? No chance!
i already jumped lol
I do not blame you; at this point, we played 4 games, and we already managed to lose to the Redskins and Cowboys, if that doesn’t push you to the brink, you haven’t been an Eagle’s fan for very long, lol. That’s not even talking about the absolutely ridiculous hype and massive let-down.
Broke my heart…I’m so jealous of colts complete division dominance.. After each team in our division has won the division these past 4 years, I’m so ready to enjoy a season where we finally dominate the division and stop having to split a game a piece with our rIvals..
..
The damn colts have won like the past 37 division games, I so desperately wanted us to strive for 6-0 In the division, with 5-1 being great, 4-2 acceptable, 3-3 or less in the division would be a failure…. oBviously unless we win the next 4 division games we failed according to those standards… Obviously I can live with that failure if we still make the playoffs, but this division is so bad that even after this horrible start We still have hope to win the last 4 division games.. For some reason the Cowboys win in Philly, but we do well at Jerry world, and Kiko should be back for that game so hopefully we get Demarco the win @dallas he so desperately wants., I love how we match up with the Giants as long as we have a QB with legit starting talent instead of a dud like Matt Barkley.. Love how we match up with them and we still have the chance to sweep them but we have to get together because they are starting to play decent ball.., skins @ home probably concerns me more than the rest of the division games left on our schedule because if I’m not mistaken we hanky beating them since they got rid of RGbum,, last time we beat them i watched
FOles run a TD in right In the end zone right in front of me, we battered RG3 that day and Boykin won us the game with late INT heroics, that was the last time I was at a skins game and since then they are on a winning streak against us, I’ll lose my mind if they don’t snap that embarrassing streak and beat Kurt cousins ass in Philly
Thanks, Tommy. And it’s not just personal attacks that make people want to leave, or ask themselves why they participate. It’s also blatant trolling: stupid, inane criticisms and schadenfreude from creatures with nothing intelligent to offer the conversation. If I want to watch monkeys throw feces, I go to the zoo (or Philly.com). When that kind of stuff pollutes your posts, it makes it hard to keep coming back.
Just offering my two cents. Thanks for everything you do.
schadenfreude is good with vanilla icing
I don’t even read the comments on Philly.com any more. Nothing by trolls and people who think they know how to coach/GM better than the pros do.
Really is just 2 people. That’s it.
It’s mainly one that’s COMPLETELY useless. But posting so much that it’s hard to ignore.
A lot of guys have found their way here from other forums and jump right in with appreciation for the generally intelligent and mature conversations. I guess if someone can’t be part of this good-natured team, well, perhaps they should be cut.
Agreed & thank you, Tommy. Unfortunately it seems as though there is a particular element which has decided to insinuate itself in these comments of late that is hell-bent on going explicitly against everything you just laid out. It has seriously started to affect my enjoyment of the community to the point where I now have to read the comments in a defensive manner, always ready to click the minimize button so that I can avoid being subjected to the trash it spews. This is something I never even had to consider doing here in the past.
This really is the very best place on the internet to talk about the Eagles
& I would hate to see it get dragged down to the dregs of what some other places are/have become.
Im guilty of getting mean and nasty to someone around here when they continued to be allowed to post and stick around. Im talking about over a month long plus period. Once they start hurling the insults and kept at it for so long I eventually started jumping in this week and just bashing away because, well, why not, you’re allowing it and they arent going anywhere. Even then, not much and only usually after they have already done so. It was only after multiple long time commentors including myself, asking for them to be removed so many times and being ignored that I figured it was open season. I will refrain and actually prefer to not stoop to that level. I just cant help myself at times if someone wants to flood a section with stupidity.
Tommy i make the most intelligent Eagles talk. Remember when you picked them to go 11-5.
I am the only one to question you and set you straight. I said just chill out this team is a disaster and Chip Kelly put out the worst offensive line in the history of the NFL.
I really think I am the smartest ont his board. Just because these guys are all koolaid drinkers doesn’t necessarily make them dumb, just blind to the truth.
I am glad I can help to make your readers a little more intelligent.
You need to create yourself a medal, take a selfie, and show us.
You are right. I am glad you agree.
Thanks, Tommy, one thing that has always made your blog stand out was the lack of personal attacks and the level of civility in the comments. Here’s to getting through the season without killing each other!
BARWIN talked about how they put a lot Time into studying their opponents and they concluded that Cousins does better against the blitz because he will play with the Cadence until he sees where the blitz comes from which gives him a predetermined read and we paid the price for it last year when we blitzed him all game. We reached the conclusion that he struggles more when you drop into coverage and he has to scan the field and figure out where to go with the ball…
..
Barwin also talked about how frustrating it was that we had him dead to rights in our cross hairs a few times and didn’t get hm down for whatever reason, which can not happen..Hopefully that sour taste in our DL mouth gets us going..
..
Sacks come in bunches, no excuses for losing, we should have stopped that game winning drive no matter what, but I’m sure fatigue played a role in our Dl not making some plays on that last drive. And I’m Not talking about fatigue from chips offense keeping the defense on the field too long, im talking about the fatigued from losing like 40% of our DL by the middle of the first half. Our strength is we rotate like 6 or 7 DL that can all play.. When we are down Ced, Hart and Bair that really puts a strain on our DL, and to make matters worse, 2’of our 4 healthy DL were NT’s who we basically had to ask to play a ton of snaps against the skins… This isn’t an excuse, but real life factors that should be taken into account when looking at the game winning drive we gave up…
..
Something that hurt us on that game winning TD is that ROWE is an inexperienced rookie so he stayed with his man, when a veteran would have known that the ball,was going to Garcon and he would have tried to leave his man to jump/undercut the pass to Garcon..
I’m not at all concerned about BG, he will get it going and be fine.. Sacks comes in bunches is a cliche that usually holds true..
..
Last year BG showed a developing gnack for forcing,fumbles, not just strip sacks but also punching out of RBs grasp, and it was nice to see that continue with a bigtime “Lawnmower strip” late in a very closely contested game.. That was a BIGTIME play..
..
only fair to also point out the bad.. BG is a great example of why chip isn’t lying when he says its an execution problem and not the personell,. BG is one of our strongest players who has,been a quality run defender for years. Consistenty setting the edge against LT and TEs so that RB’s can’t get outside and turn the corner.. Yet late in the game, BG łet the RB get outside of him which led to a big gain that proved,extremely costly… That was a BLATANT EXECUTION ISSUE! That has Nothing to do with our coaches. They weren’t asking BG to do something he hasn’t shown to be able to do well consistentky for years now.. they asked him to do his job and hold the edge like he has been doing contributing to our elite run defense, and for whatever reason, BG didn’t get the job done and it hurt us… You can’t blame that on scheme, can’t blame it on coaching, for whatever reason, we did not execute proper technique which typically hasn’t been a problem for BG and BARWIN.
.,
I assume,physical or mental fatigue kicked in for this depleted defensive front late in the game, but we know BG and THis front 7 is capable of better than what they,showed on that last drive…. Front 7 is one of our strengths, we need them to step it up and make plays when we need them to…
I love must win games all year long.
WAS top two corners are out this week against ATL, looks like they’re
going to go 5-0. Wish i took Julio in fantasy instead of Megatron, what
a wasted pick.
Atlanta already won the nfc east. that was fast
must be good to get some easy wins right out of the gate. Sadly I almost think that ATL game was the best game we played.
Geez. I was thinking the same thing.
With as bad as Culliver looked against our slowest WR’s, he would have gotten crushed against Julio and Roddy…
,,
But for me the Biggest injury the skins are dealing with is Jordan Reeds 7th concussion. That probabky isn’t going to be some minor bump on the head that he can get over in two weeks and for me, head injuries,are on a Whole other level from the ACL,Achilles, patela, rotator cuffs that really hurt an athletes career
..
forget that they are our Rivals, I really don’t want to see Jordan Reed play agan this year. How many more concussions can this young man take until it’s enough? I assume jordan Reed isn’t ready to retire even tho I wish he would. But if he won’t retire, everyone including his own mother knows that they aren’t winning the SB this year.. I know it’s eSier said than done, but if he isn’t ready to retire, I at the very least hope he sits out This entire season, get a thorough evaluation by a few different doctors and finds out exactly what he is dealing with, and what,the risks are and if he isn’t ready to retire he can give it a go again next year…
,l
But knowing he just suffered what is at least his 7th concussion. I really can’t stnd To see him take the field again this year. I,can’t stand To see a kid take ANOTHER headshot again this year if ever,.. Ultimately Im fine with letting players decide to do whatever they want with their ACLs, Achilles, patella tendons, rotators, but when it comes to concussions especially when talking about someome with such a long history of them, someone needs to step jn and not let this kid take the field again this year…it won’t cost His team some Magc SB run… His Brain is so much more Important than a football season
yeah it’s a shame what happens to their TEs, Reed is a walking injury report.
Yeah man, I forgot that besides the 7th concussion didn’t Reed Jack up his knee and ankle against us too?
..
Hopefully Reed isn’t allowed to play again this year..
..
They will have to turn to former eagle Carrier who has done nothing in this league up until now..
..
As for Former Eagles, Dion Lewis earned a few mil in a contract extension from the Patriots.. When you fumble two times, don’t get cut And get an extension it’s safe to say that Bellichick loves you..
..
Shady and Kiko so far have both been in the training room all season. Desean also has been hurt all season.. Maclin is playing with Alex Smith aka “where good WRs go to die”…, nate Allen stole money signing his absurd raiders deal and than was lost for the season.. Right now it looks like FOles and Cary Williams are the only former Eagles doing anything for their new teams…
Seems clear to me that if you don’t take pre-season seriously you will miss games for hamstring issues. Shady, Djax, Kiko, Demarco
But if you do take the preseason serious you are at risk to not even make it to the regular season. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, but it does seem like teams are going to continue to keep their toys in bubble wrap til September and use the first month as the new preseason, so in a normal year, like next offseason I probably agree with how we handled this years preseason, for me the question is after watching the Giants struggle the first half of last season after adding 27 new players during the offseason, maybe we should have used this years preseason more to better gel and get us prepared for the season…
..
But if after last offseason a mega make over, we have the quiet offseason I expect this year, we should be able to play it safe in the preseason and atill go into the season prepared.,… If we unexpectedly have another complete offseason makeover again which I doubt, then we may have to
Consider playing guys more together in August..
,.
Injuries are such an annoying but major part of how NFL seasons express themselves, we really need to build a roster these next two years that maximizes all 53 roster spots… “It’s not a sprint” would be a major understatement.., these seasons are marathon wars of attrition.. You basically need to keep your QB healthy, while having the depth to withstand at least 10 injuries to starters.
,,
I have Never Been SO jealous of the Patriots as I am now that they have like 8 OL that they use in every game, they even throw the ball to like 3 different OLineman. doesn’t matter if they are undrafyes rookie lineman, Bellichick sprinkles his magic Patriot dust on them and they immediately play well..
…
I actually did like our OL depth before we decided to turn our depth into starters, which has watered down the quality of what was one id the best OL in the game… If we went out and got two starting replacements for Herremans and Mathis, for example signing Orlando Franklin and trading for Kyle Long or whoever, I would be very pleased with having Barbre, Gardner, Tobin, Kelly and Andrews on our bench
…
We knew that some aspects of NFL life chip was going to have to learn on the Fly.. Chip didn’t arrive in Philly as a coach ready to win the super bowl in the pros and he knew that. The deal was that he would sorrounded himself with coordinators with plenty of pro experience and that he is a smart, driven guy who would work to become a pro coach that can build a champion on this level..,chip always was going to have to consistently grow to become the pro coach we need him to be, and this was his and Marynowitz first year
Experiencing the head honcho personell role in the pro’s so hopefully watering down our entire OL by getting rid of two starting Guards and replacing them with our two top Backups is a lesson well learned that will not be a repeated and end up serving as a learning experience chip grows from.,,, realistically you can’t fix it til next offseason, unless you can pull off some mid season trade for a starting gaurd which is rally rare.. Seems like the only in season move for us is to hope our guys stop getting injured and we start to turn the corner now that we had a few games to play together enough and to play our way back in the lead for the division these next 3 games while hobbling into the bye week, get healthy, and come together and show the true talent level of this roster during the second half of the season..
..
Skins have done well against us, but we been kicking the Giants ass recently with the exception of when Barkley was in at QB.. I think we match up extremely well against the Giants, so I would rather them be the team we compete with for the division, instead of the Cowboys or skins.,. But even bigger than this saints game, the up coming Giants game will be the most important game of the first half of our season.. It’s the biggest MUST WIN…
given that we need to run first it’s amazing we didn’t move heaven and earth to get guards, but instead we spent a ton of money on RBs which no one in the league does, especially not when you have WRs putting up big numbers (I can see why KC and SEA pay a lot of money for RBs).
I’m wondering if chip looked at Marshawn and thought he could get big backs that make poor line play look ok — but even SEA can’t run the ball this year.
That’s a great question. I expect Chip to correct that mistake in the upcoming off-season however.
OMG does anyone actually read all this shit?
Maclin is playing very well, 8 for 141 yds and 11 for 148 yds in consecutive weeks against good opponents in GB and Cincy.
dude, dont feel bad I took Odell instead of Julio and Houston D instead of Denver when I loved both going into my draft. For some dumbass reason that I cant justify, I followed some rankings pages I had instead of my own head. I still have a good squad this season per fantasty but I could and should have had a top team.
The reason they cant get pressure on the QB is because Barwin stopped doing steroids.
In this desperate version of the 2013 playoff matchup, Hicks won’t be the only good looking rookie Linebacker on the,field.. Them saint rookies can play, so we are fortunate to catch them early in the season… as promising as they have looked, I highly doubt they are ready to match up against a weapon like Sproles in coverage… Hopefully chip can get Sproles Isolated against Rookie LB Anthony with Sammy B hitting Sprolesy In stride so he can get revenge on the saints for how they treated him…
..
Anyone know how the Saints punter is doing? He better dare not kick a line drive agaunst Sprolsey or its getting taken back to the house for. TD..
..
Id would also like to see us line up Huff, Jordan or Agholar in the backfield in hopes that our fast tempo sticks a LB on them while scrambling to get lined up.. Get our young Recievers isolated against a LB and they should be able to get some major seperation that we can hopefully parlay into some big catches burning the saints Defense..even Josh Huff should be able to get seperaation when he has a LB or safety matched up against him..
.,
On the down side chip talked about how we do not have the luxury of knowng how they will use Jarius BYRD since he has been injured simce signing with the Saints. According to Chip, they only used BYRD in subpackages last week, but we don’t know if they will expand his role and include him in base packages.. BYRD is an ELITE centerfield Ballhawk when he is on top of his game, but we HAVE to go after him and test him knowing he has missed so much time and is still tryinf to shake off the rust.. But when he is in the game, Bradford needs to know where he is and watch for him providing help defense and trying to jump our routes.. But as good as he is, long layoffs ARENT just some bullshit excuse we use to defend Braford when he plays back, it has a real impact on players. Typically you don’t Sit out for two years, and play at your best the moment you step back on the field, so while BYRD needs to be respected, we absolutely have to get him Isolaed on someone and test him going after him…
…
Playing at home at this critical poïnt in our season we can’t get off to a slow start because it Will comletely demoralize our fans and suck the positive energy out of the Linc..fingers crossed our run game can get off to a successful start like they did to start the game against the Jets tôugh front 7..
..
And Riley Friggin Cooper OWES US a BIG PLAY against the Saints defense,after one of the worst drops in PHillly playoff history…
…
What’s really scary is how the hell are we going to manage our kicking dilema? We can’t trust this kicker, yet the OL today can’t be trusted to go for two, or pick up 4th and short… How is Chip going to handle this? Is he going to trust this kicker to make the kicks in live action that he makes in Practice? Or have we,zero faith in this kicker to the point where we prefer to trust this struggling OL?…
..
Really trying to avoid a close game that comes down to the very end when we have zero faith in our kicker… And Drew Brees is not a QB you want to allow to play with a early lead. Hopefully this will be the first time our offense puts together 4 solid quarters, if we can avoid those long funks of lack of productivity, and play 4 solid quarters we should find ourselves in a good position to get a win against this saints team
reminds me i need to start sproles and jenkins in all my leagues. Interesting drops still an issue 2 year later.
Going to be interesting to see how Peyton plays us. We were a good run D in 2013 but they just went heavy sets and ran it on us, wonder if Khiry has a big game again.
I was really excited to see them on our schedule this year. Unfortunately it’s hard to enjoy anything when we are 1-3….but going into this season I was so excited to finally get this rematch because that loss had to hurt some of our players.. As great as Bennie Logan was performing as a rookie NT, as promising of a future he was obviously showing himself capable, he had to eat a lot of dog shit from tbis media and the fans… I remember when it was really common to hear fans and media say that we Needed to spend a high pick on a NT because Bennie WOULDNT be good enough to ever be our starter.l and most of this crap came from not having his best game in the playoff game against the saints when they were able to run on us,, two years later Bennie has already officially arrived s one of the best NT in the game, and after what he had to endure because the Saints veteran champions oh the OL got the best Of him as a rookie, I would expect Bennie to be foaming at the mouth to destroy this team even worse than Sprolesy and Jenkins who were discarded like trash by a team they helped win a Suerbowl while they still have so much left in the tank..
..
It was a real spit in the face to Jenkins, who they didn’t even try to keep and then turned around and paid like double for Jarius BYRD,., and we end up with what has become one of the best safeties in the NFL at q pretty damn cheap price… After this season, like we did with BARWIN, Id like to see Chip give Malcolm Jenkins a bonus for out performing even our loftiest expectatins. That dude is playing out Of his mind and like Bennie. This weeks matchup should provide some extra Fire for Them… Although we may not be able to Gve him the bonus we gave Barwn because his contract is running out so we may have to reward him with a new contract extension all together
..
Billy and Chip did a heckuva job scouting Jenkins and a year later they followed it up with signing Thumond and movng the Long armed ballhawk to Safety and the kid is responding better than we could have,imagined and now we are seeing one of the best Safety Tandems in the game, after what feels like a decade of the DAWKINS safety curse.. Thurmond has had some issues with injuries in the past UNFORTUNATELY.. But for someone who started playng safety less than 6 months ago to be playong at this level so soon is such a blessing for this safety starved FANBASE and its scary to think how much better Thurmond can be at safety when he gets like 15 games at ssFety under,his belt and can really get comfortable in THS new position, playing with these new teammates, and learning the ins and outs of this defense…. If we can,get 3-4 relatively healthy seasons out of Thurmond and Jenkins. It would be HUGE for this franchise.. As great as they have looked, they are just scratching the surface of what they can become as a safety tandem… I can’t stress how appreciative I am of chip, Billyl Marynowitz for finally ending the curse of how we treated DAWKINS,,
I can hear the NFL films music
T-Law:
You mentioned the Eagles’ 84.4 Opposing-QB passer rating — which puts them 8th in the NFL.
Five of seven teams ahead of them are a combined 18-2 (Den, Car, GB [all 4-0], AZ, Jets [3-1]).
Take out the Jets’ win (62.64 rating), and the Eagles’ O-QB increases to 95.50 — which would put them at 19th in the NFL.
Brees’ QB rating is currently 94.9.
Not sure what that foretells for Sunday.
In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a study done comparing individual game outcomes to how a QB’s rating compares to the defense’s opposing-QB rating.
In a pass-happy league, that’s a study I’d like to see.
84.4 against ryans, cousins weedens kirkpatrick, 3/4 of those guys aren’t starting caliber QBs, fantasy ownership percentage 0.0%
Ryans: 90.07
Romo/Weeden: 106.00
Cousins: 91.75
and Ryan absolutely is owned in ffl
football is weird like that… 1) small sample sizes, 2) random events like fumbles/drops/deflected INTs, 3) Defensive formations change every play/drive, 4) Garbage time stats, 5) rookies can make impact immediately, 6) Game times/London, 7) Rules changing every year, etc.
I think football has to have some of the most complicated analytics out of any sport.
Nice stats. Tells you that the Jets were starting a borderline starting NFL QB who had almost no weapons to speak of. If Ivory had played that game, I do think it might have turned out a bit different since it would have given the Jets a screen game & some semblance of a rushing game.
What it says is that despite this team playing some mediocre to poor offenses so far (Atlanta being the exception), that this defense overall has been supbar too due to several reasons – TOP issues, injuries issues especially at ILB, secondary, and Davis.
Tommy,
How much does the poor pass rush come down to 2-gapping? I know 2 gapping in particular is slowed down by play action, and it feels – not that I’ve charted it – that we’ve seen a lot of that lately. Would you like to see more 1 gapping mixed in?
We don’t really two gap when the opponent passes the ball. think about it the way, two gapping means your front 3 occupies blockers and we let our LBs do the work,.. Well it’s not realistic to have your 3 DL taking up blockers while all 4 of your RBs have to rush the passer every time an opponent calls a pass play. That’s not realistic and we will never see that…..
..
when we are in our 3 man line and they run the ball we stick with our two gap and the linebackers go tackle the RBs.. But if we are expecting to two gap our of a 3man line and the opponent passes, as soon as we realize it’s not gong to be a run play, we abandon two gap, and our DL will rush the passer While maintaining their gap responsibilities in pass rush, and depending on what the play call is, the linebackers have keys to read that for example would dictate which of the OLBs will be the 4th rusher when they catch us in our 3man line expectng to two gap against the run..
,,
But when we,are expecting to defend the pass we go to our 4 man lines with our OLBs typically becoming 4-3 DEs, in whch the two gaping doeamt apply and our 4 DL will maintain their gap responsibilities and rush the passer as a cohesive unit
Well at least we got Ced and Hart back.
https://twitter.com/ZBerm/status/652549958856409088
Damn shame. Kendricks just can’t stay healthy.
Wish he didn’t rush back but it’s hard to argue against it when we are trying to hold on To our season for deer life.., chips decision to draft Hicks and extend Mufasa proving to be a godsend, while so many people ripped him. For it,.. I’m so appreciative that while dealing with the loss of Kiko and Kendricks I feel absolute confidence in the tandem of Mufasa and the Rook.. Mufasa just has to make sure the Rook is aimed at the correct place, wind him up, and unleash the beast…
…
As long as hicks and Meco can stay healthy, I’m perfectly OK with sitting Kendricks till the bye week and give him a chance to really put this injury behind him,,,, this is an important time.. We need to step up and win 2 of these next 3 games as we limp into a much needed bye week… If we can beat the saints and the Giants it would be absolutely HUGE.. If we see a Miracle and win the next 3 games with how well Cam is playing, we will most likely be sitting at the top of the division during the bye which is crazy to be able to say compared to how rough our month of September was
huge!!! I’m sure extreme fatigue factored into not getting Cousins down and giving up the game winning drive… Figure one of our strengths is rotating 6 or 7 quality DL to attack teams and stay fresh, last week we had to play an enter game with ONlY 4 defensive lineman, and 2 of the 4 were friggin NTs who we had to ask to play like 50 plus plays.. Even in a normal game where the offense is playing great, only having 2 NTs and 2 DTs in an entire game is not easy at all.. We lost half our depth..
..
I’m thrilled to hear that they are back, I never want to be in position where we only have two Nose Tackles, Cox and Curry… Don’t matter how great of shape that are in, that’s too much for 300lb defenders
” Figure one of our strengths is rotating 6 or 7 quality DL to attack teams and stay fresh, last week we had to play an enter game with ONlY 4 defensive lineman, and 2 of the 4 were friggin NTs who we had to ask to play like 50 plus plays”
Probably why were huddling as much as we were…
At this point the vast majority of issues is on the offense, not the defense. This defense has been solid, especially when CK’s playcalling is forcing them onto the field for twice as long as the other team’s defense.
Which magic play calls should he call that will make them stop making mistakes?
Touchdown play
I love that one
AKA the reverse that Agholor dropped….
It’s not just the x’s & o’s. What about not snapping the ball in 15 seconds when all it’s producing is 3&outs? That is so frustrating, when the offense comes out and gets a 3&out which happens so fast that they don’t even cut to commercial. Then the defense is right back on the field.
If I were Fletcher Cox or one of the other guys who is always on the field hustling, for 40 minutes (!) a game, I’d be getting pretty pissed at this offense for not holding up their end of the deal.
Would we be 4-0 if we had the same exact amount of 3 and outs, the only difference being the ball is snapped with 2 seconds instead of 15? Or would we be 4-0 if we actually blocked someone or caught a damn clutch pass once in awhile? 3 and outs are killer no matter which way you slice it. It’s a tiresome argument that I just don’t think makes that much difference. I agree…the feeling that it’s too fast is frustrating and I’ve said before that I wish he would use tempo as a tool and use it strategically.
maybe WAS has less time to drive in the 4th quarter if we’d slowed things down,
We were losing practically the whole game, so using up every possible second probably doesn’t give the guys enough time to even take the lead, Eagles still lose.
Even from a mental standpoint. Imagine working your ass off as a DT to get off the field, and then 90 seconds later, in real time, you’re back on. It’s killer.
not one of the 4 plays they know is coming.
What people say us true, if we execute it perfectly, and all our guys get to their blocks and win that block, you get a 1 on 1 between a RB and a tackler, and if everyone on your team wins their battle, you have a chance for a very nice play. But the other guys gets paid too. A lot of places for your play to break. We’re having a lot of trouble mentally right now, but even if they all get it together mentally, there’s still a chance they get beat and cant hold up their block.
Anytime you can help your guys with the scheme it helps. Even if it take a few tenths of seconds more to diagnose a play, having to hesitate just a bit before deciding what gap to crash/where the ball is/is going, it gives your guys a better chance to do their jobs. Heck if the other guys are confused and bust an assignment you get a hole you can drive a bus through. plays like this can be the difference between a scoring drive and a punt. Or even an opportunity for a first down vs a 3 and out. We have the best 2 minute drive in the league. And when we get a nice pick up and turn on the tempo, this offense can look elite. But the playbook could use some smoothies for when their D has their wits about them.
The “receiver doesn’t drop the ball” play…omaha, set, hike
I’m no huge football genius, maybe we have more trust in our back end in D so we don’t need to rush the passer so much? Dunno. Maybe we just don’t have the “it” yet in that area…
would have been nice to have Kendricks to cover CJ spiller out of the backfield on wheel routes like the overtime winning TD he caught last week.. Jordan Hicks was beaten deep by Dunbar in his first game called into action.. CJ Spiller will be a good test to see how far Hicks has progressed in coverage since his first taste of NFL action almost a month ago.. You know Drew Bree’s is going to test the rookie.
…
Brandin Cooks is a smaller faster WR than most of the outside WR that we have faced up until now. he has had a slow start to this season, can’t allow this to be his breakout game.
..
Marques Colston vs Jordan Mathews, who has a bigger game? I assume we probably see Jenkins matchup with Colston in the slid when we are in Nickel..
..
Rowe has been progressing better than expected so early in his rookie season, but I hope he fully understands that if he steps on the
Field, Drew Brees is going to try and pick on the rookie all day, so Rowe better be stepping up his preparation if we plan on using him on defense this week..
..
Since Brees will try to pick on our rookies, Bradford has to try and attack Jarius Byrd who has to be really rusty after not playing for like two years.. Get Ertz matched up against Byrd, maybe try to give Byrd a dose of Sproles or introduce him to Jorfan Mathewa who needs to use his body to keep Byrd on his back where he can’t jump tne route..
..
If Drew Brees is going to try and pick on our talented rookies, Sam and Chio need to isolate their rookie LBs and force them to try and cover..
…
But it’s no secret that this offense will go where the OL and the run game take us.. We have had a few games under our belt it’s time to start gelling and improving assuming our OL isn’t too injured to stand a chance..
..
This saints team can’t beat you throwing 50 times, they need to get their backs going.. It’s crucial that we play up to the level of our top ranked run defense and make that run game miserable for what they did to us when our boys up front where just babies.. Saint OL has weaknesses as it is, but their quality veterans are also playing banged up…, if the saints defense doesn’t allow us to run, then our top rated run defense will have to rise to the challenge and not give the saints RBs a yard!!
..
As tough as it has been, Bradford has actually done a great job not turning the ball over which is big for a offense that’s struggling.. Our defense needs to do its part and force turnovers this week while Bradford and the offense focus and have a clean game, because I doubt this saints team is good enough to overcome being on the wrong side of the turnover ledger especially on the road against a hungry team..
..
Bradfords actual turnover numbers are a little misleading, take away at least 2 of his INTS which weren’t his fault
..
This can’t be a super tight game that comes down to the very end while our kicker is Caleb Sturgis so for the sake of my blood pressure in hoping for an uncharacteristically comfortable win.. Come on? We have to at least protect our home field against terrible road teams who are as big of a mess as we have been.,, as desperate as we are, if we can’t step up and beat this slop
Saints team in our house we really have problems..,
,,
Hopefully the football gods throw us a bone and take a couple weeks break from all the injuries. We are so fortunate that all the goals we set out to reach this year are still all right there for the taking, be a damn shame to not get it turned around and waste suck a great opportunity. In some other divisions, teams that have our type of start could have their season end by November 1st….
…
By himself, Hicks has allowed 14 catches for 140 yards on 19 targets the past three games.
I think this is actually sort of encouraging considering wheel routes are home run plays for us. That said CJ Spiller could have a big day.
Isnt that misleading with the 3-4 and guys shifting all over to cover? I dont know, I hate when I see a lb trying to cover a rb or wr. I know it happens all the time but its esp unnerving when they are going deep. Im starting to dislike the 3-4 more and more, just feels like you need really great players all over to have consistent success. I may be jaded though at this point.
I don’t think it’s much different in that regard to a 43.. Just gives the defense more options. On a typical play there are going to be 3 LB covering just like in the 43.
DFB is the goto guy there, haven’t seen him for a while though.
no youre right, you just need more athletic lbs it seems in a 3-4. Or ones that can do multiple things well but ya, not all that different since you still have the same number of DBs in different formations covering.
D3 is kept in the loony bin for his Tobin obsession.
PFF has him as the #8 highest graded rookie right now.
no doubt, wheel route is hardest to defend, he’s obviously got a knack for making plays.
Sproles benefits from this as well. LB hell…
dang Julio might miss the skins game, what a jerk
Slacker
Predictions :
1. Eagles LOSE LOSE LOSERS
2. Sam Bradford gets injured
3. Offensive line looks like a used piece of shitty toilet paper
4. Peters doesnt play
5. Lane Johnson moves to LT.
6. Lane Johnson gets hurt
7. Eagles go 1-6 into bye and Chip is fired.
You heard it hear first and DONT YOU DARE FORGET IT
OMG!! I figured out who you really are!!!
“I’m looking into the camera, you don’t want to make an enemy out of me. I’m not havin it…” You are Stephen A Smith!!
predictions:
1. Eagles get on track early and often scoring in the first quarter.
2. Eagles Defense sacks Brees more then once
3. Rowe gets a pick
4. Hicks dominates the middle
5. Jmatt remembers how to catch and goes off
6. Ryan Matthews breaks 100 yards
6. Eagles Win, get rolling
7. Eaglesfanqq escapes the mental institution and rejoins Jerry Jones in his hot tub
you heard it here first
hey no personal attacks.
Tommy, ban this guy.
that’s not an attack its a prediction
wrong, that is a personal attack. I hope Tommy sticks by his word and bans you.
6. Lane Johnson gets hurt
personal attack…
that’s a personnel attack
wrong that is a prediction.. I don’t know for sure you will escape the mental institution
Tommy, please ban this guy
I’m just hoping this game doesn’t come down to Peyton vs Davis. I think Davis looses that battle every time.
I mentioned that yesterday as well. I have zero faith in Billy D coming up big in that type of chess match.
and twice on sundays
I’m not sure I understand the recent Davis hate. I was not a fan at all of the Davis signing, but particularly this year, I think he has done a nice job. Given the way Chip wants to run the team, Davis has an incredibly difficult job, and while the defense hasn’t been great, you can make the argument that at least for this year and last year, it has been the better side of the ball.
Overall they’ve been better than the O, but the endless string of 100+ plus receiving days for guys, lack of pressure on the QB, and poor 3rd down play (Washington converted 9/17 last game) has been frustrating.
I know Julio Jones is the man, but he should be on a pace to have a 144 / 2,256 / 32 TD season.
Terrance Williams isn’t really a 64/1344/16 TD guy.
Brandon Marshall isn’t a 160 / 1744 16 TD pace player.
Pierre Garcon at 112 / 880 / 16 TD pace is also a tad rich.
I know we stop the run well, but the “average” #1 WR is on a pace of 7.5 catches 97 yards and 1.25 TDs per game against us.
I’d love to have a 120 catch / 1552 yard / 20 TD a WR on this team.
Don’t get me wrong. This defense is not special and there isn’t anything special about Davis either. With that said, every week it seems people are asking for Davis to get fired and he has DEFINITELY not been bad enough to justify that. In fact, he has done a pretty good job considering that the defense has faced the most number of drives in the league. That has NOTHING to do with Billy Davis and everything to do with Chip Kelly and the offense. In fact, logically, if the defense improves, that number only increases because we end up facing fewer long drives which means teams have more time to get another drive in the game.
On top of that, while the defense isn’t spectacular, they have been the primary reason we were even close in several of these games. Right now, the much bigger issue is with Chip Kelly and the offense. If Davis was costing us games, that’s when he would be fair game, but right now, he’s one of the reasons we are even close.
Defense is generally good but Billy d gets outschemed . Offense sef doesn’t help. Keeping teams under 24 is good when we’re on the field 40+ minutes a game.
Exactly. Chip controls every aspect of everything and that definitely includes the defense. Davis plays the scheme and runs the defense the way Chip wants it done. Chip hired Davis and has retained him. Chip has brought in and moved out the defensive personnel and coaches Davis has to use. Chip does not delegate the defense to Davis, not a chance.
I hope it doesn’t come down to Drew vs. Sam.
8. It was all just a dream
That’s what Vince Young said…
The lack of stats in the pass rush is certainly frustrating, but my 12 sack goal for Graham wasn’t going to equate to .75 sacks a game.
In either case, there are some game coming up vs. some putrid O-lines.
Saints, Giants, Panthers over the next 3 games could be helpful to the cause.
No sacks because Barwin stopped doing steroids after he got his new contract.
T-Law noticed you wrote DL get healthy so Curry can spell Graham n Barwin.. So what your thoughts on Marcus Smith? You thinking he actually gets time this year?
He’s been a healthy scratch twice this season. At this point, I think it is fair to say he is a huge bust. If he produces anything, that’s a bonus, but definitely not something to count on.
So which half will we suck at this week? The first or second?
How about the middle? A great 1st and 4th quarter.
How about 4 great quarters and they suck at halftime.
1) Sprole vs CJ spiller
..
2) Colston vs Jordan Mathews
..
3) Cooks vs Agholar
..
4) Murray/Mathews against saints run Defense vs. Khari/Ingram against our elite run Defense
..
5) Ertz/Celek vs Ben Watson and ??? (Drawing a blank)..,
…
6) turnover Margin ???
…
Win the Majority of those Matchups and we win win the game…
Uhh you forgot the Eagles oline
Think it’ll be who can convert 3rd and 2, 3rd and goal .
I hear what you’re saying, but those guys don’t face each other. I think our O will have a really big game this week, but I’m still scared our D will lose the game on scheme.
Win those matchups in terms of PRODUCTION.
..
The production in those,head to head MATCHUPS willl already account for the QBs and OL play…
..
If we can produce more than the Saints in at least 4 of those categories, we should see an Eagles win… Saints don’t have enough firepower outside of the MATCHUPS I listed to overcome the Eagles producing more in 4 or 5 of those categories..
.
Even tho our OL is a mess right now, the saints have a poor run defense that kind of reminds me of the crappy Jets run defense we actually managed,to have some success against but who hell knows what this “desperation bowl” will look like…
Let’s drop Miles Austin and get 40 yr old T.O back.
To or Reggie Wayne
Or Marvin Harrison. Especially when I’m calling for a few of our players to be taken behind the Nova Care complex and shot……….Marvin has the hardware to get that job done.
Lol..looks like you just finished watching the “Football life” special on him as well
Dudes still in great shape
Such a shame how everything turned out, him and mcnabb couldve entered the record books together. So bittersweet rewatching that chapter in eagles history
Tear jerker for sure. We coulda been somebody!
Why can’t Marcus Smith relieve Barwin and Graham?
OK. I’m joking
But seriously, if Thornton and Hart get healthy, how can we keep Brandon Bair active? Even in the regular season he seems to be making plays. If nothing else, he seems to bat down a lot of passes due to his height.
I need your help here guys. Help me pick my starting QB this week.
1. Bradford vs N.O. (Want to start him but kinda worried about our OL situation)
2. Tyrod Taylor vs Tenn
3. Marcus Mariota vs Buffalo.
Bradford showed some signs of life last week on deep balls and the Saints D really shouldn’t pressure us that much. I’d roll with him.
Mariota
I’m starting Bradford, Mariota vs Ryan worries me, TT should put up numbers.
Yeah, not sure BUF will have much of a run game with the boobie running…
Watching Saints / Dallas, it’s really depressing watching Dallas break off 20 yd run after 20 yd run w/ nobodies.
Well, this week we’ll be able to watch DeMarco break off 20 yard runs after 20 yard runs
Any Penn State fans in here, Pay attention to Indiana’s LT Jason Spriggs….most likely to be drafted before the 4th round in the draft…kind of athlete Chip likes. I’m not a huge fan
Yeah I’m watching the game. Indiana has really only had 1 good drive so far though. Seem to be having some issue finding rhythm.
Hackenberg is streaky as hell, but when he’s on, he’s really good.
When is the last time the Eagles had a great pure pass-rusher though? Cole was that at times when they played the 4-3 but he always wore down like clockwork (much like Utley) as the season progressed. By Dec, he often wasn’t a factor.
Reggie White was the last time we had a great game changing pass rusher. We’ve signed a lot of guys who were supposed to be that next great guy or at least someone you had to account for, but most never lived up to it.
I was thinking William Fuller. Been that long though.
Maybe Hugh Douglas who had some good moments here too.
Oh yes I forgot about Hugh. I can only ever think of the guys who were heralded but just didn’t pan out. Jevon Kearse is the first to jump in my mind.